Our awesome IWSG co-hosts for the August 3 posting are Tamara Narayan, Tonja Drecker, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Lauren @ Pensuasion, Stephen Tremp, and Julie Flanders!
Don't forget to thank them when you visit!
Florida. A park set in piney woods. I’m walking to the
restrooms to put on my swimsuit, ready to plunge into deep clear blue spring
water on a hot muggy summer day. Then it happens, time travel. I’ve heard the
sense of smell can take you back through memory faster than any other sense,
and I believe it. One minute I’m in a park, the next I’m back in the forest I
grew up in. Have you ever smelled a pine forest? It’s not only musty-sweet pine
needles, it’s pungent, hot, soft and slightly bitter. The bitterness is of pine
sap, the blood of a tree, of a forest. Deep, sticky and cruel to
ants and paint jobs on cars. Earthy and wholesome the scent is wholly familiar and
comforting to me. I am home within this scent.
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| Madison Blue Springs, Florida |
I’ve been re-working my first true novel this summer and
reveling in its beauty and the changes that must take place. I can’t change my
past and for the most part wouldn’t want to. But part of the beauty of writing
to me is being able to do just that, change the past, make it better, more
interesting and readable to my readers. Piney woods. Pine sap. My past that
will never change. It runs in my veins as necessarily as my blood, as does the
writing that frees me to change anything.
Question of the Month
I don't have just one! Many Florida beaches, a few French ones on the Med, and one particular beach in Oregon, Bandon. They all hold special places in my heart.
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| Bandon Oregon |
Images from:
Funny how smells can really take you back.
ReplyDeleteCool you are rewriting that story and making it better.
I enjoy reworking one of my books, too. While at first I am be overwhelmed, I end up having more fun with it. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa - the wafts of pine - yes .. I quite agree and love that scent as we sputter the leaves and needles around us ... your beaches sound wonderful ... enjoy the summer - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteMe too. I've never met a beach I didn't love. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
I love that kind of time travel! And I love incorporating twist of my reality in things I write. Every experience is fodder, right?
ReplyDeleteI'm not big on beaches, too much sand. I love the descriptions of pine woods and I do know what you mean.
ReplyDeleteI love the smell of fresh cut pine- Christmas!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how a single smell can transport you in an instant.
Hi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI was born in raised in the southern part of Georgia and one of the things I remember is the smell of fresh pine or pine trees. We had a couple in our backyard and I loved them.
All the best on your book.
Shalom aleichem,
Patricia
I love the smell of pine, too.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Memories... Any time I get a burst of chill I think of fall...which we don't have here in Florida and the pumpkins on doorsteps and the excitement of candy and parties and upcoming holidays... Thanks for giving me a reason to reminisce.
ReplyDelete